We got to meet with Tim Tebow when he came to speak at Cincinnati Christian University.  He is such a nice guy and as you can tell by Ashleigh’s smile she was really excited. 

Ashleigh and I started watching football together when she was still in the hospital a few months after her accident on the little pull-down TV.  We still watch games together every Sunday and Ashleigh has an amazing record of predicting the winners.  We are Tebow fans and will follow him wherever he goes.  We told Tim that if he ever gets nominated for sainthood he has already accomplished one miracle and that was getting my wife to watch football.  When Tim was leading his team to the playoff win over the Steelers my wife was cheering him on louder than anyone.

Tim and his team invited us to stay for his talk and it was both entertaining and inspiring.  The most surprising thing to me is how mature and insightful he is, especially for a 24 year old.  I remember how my friends and I were around that age and all we were interested in was where is the next party being held.

Tim talked about the type of role model he wants to be and the time he has spent thinking about how he wants to lead his life.  He wants to leave the world a better place beyond anything he does in football and in my opinion he is already well on his way.

This thought is probably a waste of the time it takes to type, but, I wish the media would just lay off the negative stuff.  If they want to criticize his performance on the field, whether he missed a receiver or made a wrong call that is fine.  But the negativity of him personally and his beliefs are over the top.  Some are rooting for him to fail just because they do not share his beliefs.

Tim is an amazing young man who went way out of his way to make sure Ashleigh felt special and brought some joy to her life and for that we are very grateful.

Thanks also to the people at Cincinnati Christian University for allowing us to come to their event and to our student host, Eddie.

We have been going to the Drake Center in Cincinnati and they really have a great set-up with their pool.  At one end of the pool the floor can be raised level with the surrounding floor so that patients can be wheeled out in a shower wheelchair and then the floor lowered to the desired depth.

The water is in the 96 degree range and the air temperature in the entire pool area and changing rooms is very warm as well.  Ashleigh was so relaxed after her swim as it really helped with her high tone.  We went to a local Y for a while and while the pool area was warm the dressings rooms were freezing.  It was so bad that our PT said it was not worth the increase in tone she was getting and we should stop.  At the Drake she stays nice and loose for hours.

Dr. Berlin is a great person, very kind and caring.  Believe me it was not easy to stand by as he did the manipulations the first few times.  We have not seen as big of improvements yet that Lindsay has but we have seen much better breathing and better relaxation and less tone after the treatments.  We are going three days a week.  Below are a couple videos from a session:

You can look at http://maximizedliving.com/ to learn more and to find someone in your area if you are interested.

Ashleigh continues to crack us up sometimes because you never really know what she is going to say.  Her aunt Pam asked her if she liked her chiropractor and she said yes because he is good looking.

Ashleigh’s dog was driving us crazy because two or three times in the span of a couple weeks she had gone outside and rolled in some kind of animal droppings.  I had to bathe her before she could be in the house again and Sophie really does not care for baths.  I asked Ashleigh what we could tell Sophie when she gets mad at me for bathing her.  Ash said “Tell her if you don’t want a bath, quit rolling in crap”.

Later we were the football playoffs and Ashleigh and her Mom were rooting for Denver and I was rooting for New England.  We asked why she liked Denver and she because Tim Tebow is hot.  I think she needs to quit being so shy…

A couple of weeks later and we went back to pick up the brace.  It locks when she is walking and then can be released to sit.  It has stopped the knee from buckling and the hyper-extending we saw with a stand-alone knee brace.  We have been to a number of orthotists and Ted is way above the norm in knowledge, speed, and service.

I pasted some details below from the About.com page on thyroids.  There is a lot more info out there on the Web and from your doctor if you suspect any thyroid issues.

TSH Test

The most common thyroid test is the blood test that measures the amount of thyroid-stimulating hormone (TSH) in your bloodstream. The test is sometimes called the thyrotropin-stimulating hormone test.

TSH that is elevated, or above normal, is considered indicative of hypothyroidism. TSH that is “suppressed” or below normal, is considered evidence of hyperthyroidism.

As of 2003, the American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists is recommending that the normal range run from 0.3 to 3.0, versus the older range of 0.5 to 5.5. So, according to the new standards, levels above 3.0 are evidence of possible hypothyroidism, and levels below 0.3 are evidence of possible hyperthyroidism. Keep in mind that there is disagreement among practitioners, and some follow the older range, others use the newer range.

Free T4 / Free Thyroxine

Free T4 measures the free, unbound thyroxine levels in your bloodstream. Free T4 is typically elevated in hyperthyroidism, and lowered in hypothyroidism.

Free or unbound T4 levels represent the level of hormone available for uptake and use by cells. Bound levels represent a circulating hormone that may not all be immediately available, because it is affected by other drugs, illness, and physical changes such as pregnancy. Because the free levels of T4 represent immediately available hormone, free T4 is thought to better reflect the patient’s hormonal status than total T4 (below).

Total T4/Total Thyroxine/Serum Thyroxine

This test measures the total amount of circulating thyroxine in your blood. Thyroxine, a hormone produced by the thyroid, is also known as T4. A high value can indicate hyperthyroidism, a low value can indicate hypothyroidism. Total T4 levels can be elevated due to pregnancy, and other high estrogen states, including use of estrogen replacement or birth control pills.

Total T3/Total Triiodothyronine

Triiodothyronine is the active thyroid hormone, and is also known as T3. Total T3 is typically elevated in hyperthyroidism, and lowered in hypothyroidism.

Free T3 / Free Triiodothyronine

Free T3 measures the free, unbound levels of triiodothyronine in your bloodstream. Free T3 is considered more accurate than Total T3. Free T3 is typically elevated in hyperthyroidism, and lowered in hypothyroidism.

She hasn’t stopped with just the walking.  She has also recently set records on her peddler.  We got her on the bike a month or so ago and before we could turn the motor on she started pedaling.  The last session she was up to 20 minutes pedaling all on her own and then did 30 minutes more with the motor on the highest speed for 50 minutes total.

Great work and dedication Ashleigh.

Please take a few minutes and make sure you check all of the medicines for their expiration dates.  We needed to do a breathing treatment recently and found the medicine in the nebulizer bag was expired.  We called the manufacturer who said it was still okay to use but it added more stress to an already stressful situation as Ashleigh was feeling like she couldn’t breathe.

(BTW – We did end up in the ER but they could not find anything and after a couple of hours she felt better and we got to go home)

Right now we have Jan, our OT, in front at Ashleigh’s feet, Mom on the right arm, Julian on the left arm and me on the feet in the back while using a roll-ater.  When we did the trial Julian and I were able to do it ourselves without the walker.  We would have to see how things go in a real therapy session to know how much help we would need but just the safety factor of guarding against falls would be worth it.